VIDEO: Referee gets tough, puts player in choke hold in SHL game

Officials are often bystanders when fists start flying on the ice. One referee in a match-up between Vaxjo and Farjestad in the Swedish Hockey League wasn't about to let his game get out of hand.

There was a lot of pushing and shoving going on among players on the ice and once things moved towards the player benches, the officials jumped in to break things up. It didn't work. As players for both teams started mixing things up, the referees got overwhelmed and even one linesmen found himself on his back under a scrum.

That's when one of the referees decided to take matters into his own hands (around the 40-second mark of the video above). The man in stripes got aggressive and pulled Farjestad forward Marius Holtet out of the fracas via what MMA enthusiasts (and a Redditor) would call a guillotine choke hold. The referee dragged Holtet several feet maintaing the hold, all while Holtet was quite literally tapping out. Once the referee released the distressed Farjestad player, he gave Holtet a stern talking to, with the finger wag and everything.

I've seen referees deliver lectures before, but never after nearly choking a player out. Mercy.

Holtet, by the way, is a former Dallas Stars second-round draft pick out of Norway. He made it as high as the AHL, but never earned a spot on the big club.